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		m. bion's fountain pen

		Following the failure of the medieval metal pens, there were many attempts at designing a pen that had a reservoir for the ink and that released it in a regular flow. Samuel Pepys mentions having such a pen in the late seventeeth century, but no details are given. The first practical advance, of which there exists actual examples, was made in France by a certain Monsieur Bion at the end of the seventeenth or beginning of the eighteenth century. Bion claimed a patent on a plume sans fin or 'endless pen', which was given the name 'fountain pen'. A 1723 translation of Bion's description of this pen is as follows. "The instrument is composed of different pieces of brass, silver, etc., ...... The middle piece carries the pen [quill nib], which ought to be... screwed into the inside of a little pipe, which is soldered to another pipe of the same bigness as the lid, in which lid is soldered a male screw for screwing on the cover, as likewise for stopping a little hole [at the end of the middle section] and so hindering the the ink from running through it. In the top cover goes a 'porte-craion' that is to screw into the last mentioned little pipe [at the end of the middle piece away from the nib], and so stop the end of the pipe at whch the ink is poured in, by means of a funnel". Our example dates from a little after this translation was published and is based on the Bion system. A shows the complete pen with all parts connected. B is the cap that screws into the middle section C which holds the nib and the ink. Section D is connected to C to prevent the ink from running out. The brass 'stopper' E is placed inside the centre piece and is intended to allow the ink to flow evenly and not flood. The earliest known fountain pen is engraved 1702 and is based on a simple gravity feed system.
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